Obituary: Lt. Col. Louis Rowland Donath

Visitation will be Thursday, Jan. 3, at 9:30 a.m. at First Lutheran Church in Hot Springs followed by the funeral service 10 a.m. officiated by Pastor Jonathan Beyer.

Lt. Col. Louis Rowland Donath, AF (Ret.) born in Chicago, Ill., on Feb. 8, 1919, died at home in Hot Springs on Dec. 30, 2012, at the age of 93. He was the son of Elizabeth and Louis Donath, and graduated from Schurz High School in Chicago in 1938. He joined the army in 1942 and was a flight instructor in 1943 and 1944 in Stuttgart.

In September 1944, he married local girl, Olive Jean Jensen and they were married for 68 years. In 1944 was stationed in the Phillipine Islands serving in WWII as a bomber pilot flying B24s. After 37 years of both active duty and service in the reserves, he retired in 1979 attaining the rank of Lt. Colonel. After active duty, Lou and Olive Jean resided in Stuttgart where Lou was an agricultural pilot. For many years Lou was a member of Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Stuttgart. He served on the Stuttgart School Board, City Council and Civil Air Patrol. He was a lifetime member of the Arkansas Agricultural Aviation Association. Lou resided in Stuttgart from 1944 to 1989, and most recently resided in Hot Springs where he was a member of First Lutheran Church.